Lillard left open the possibility of not playing the rest of the season

Damien Lillard underwent abdominal surgery a few days ago, with the length of his absence unclear. And it seems there is a scenario to lose the rest of the season.

Speaking for the first time after surgery, the Blazers star was as clear as can be. “Sometimes it’s like playing chess. You have to make decisions with an eye on the future and the present” Lillard initially said to add, after being asked if he intends to play again this year unless the Blazers finish in the top 10 and are out of the playoff tournament and decide to aim for a high draft pick, so to… lose:

“If we have that goal then it wouldn’t make sense for me to play again this year. Because I’m not going to play to get a draft pick. I can not do that. So if we do something like that or it’s decided, then it wouldn’t make sense for me to fight.

Finally, Lillard emphasized that the abdominal pain didn’t actually happen at the Japan Olympics but in 2015, adding that it was Bucks teammate Holloway (his Team USA teammate) who pushed him to have surgery , after experiencing the same problem in the past: “Holliday was the first to confirm that I needed surgery. I was out of practice with Team USA and when I described my symptoms to him he told me he had the same problem.

I’ve always controlled how I move, but all of a sudden I got to the point where my body wasn’t listening to me and wasn’t doing what I wanted. “So I had to have surgery.”